Recently I was at a quarterly meeting in San Diego to connect with my business coach Joe Stumpf at “By Referral Only” Real Estate Marketing University.

Joe asked: “Imagine what life could look like—if you removed/delegated even 1 or 2 of your current irritations & tolerations”. “Imagine what life could look like if you focused more on the “amazing” & ”your happy place”. “If you put the work into these changes—the pay off will be for a life time”. So lets “Imagine together…”

Imagine a couple of your work irritations and tolerations gone. What are the things that could be removed or delegated? One of our clients recently imagined not having to cut the lawn, shovel the snow covered driveway, and clean up after a winter storm...ever again. So they bought a townhouse! (one of my tolerations is the accounting end of our business. Fortunate for me, Marlene enjoys numbers and she took that over—and with that time I am able to work on bettering our team’s plans, systems and campaigns—” “In my happy place”)

Health, fitness & energy - Imagine 1 or 2 of your irritations / tolerations gone. (For me (Larry) - my “Happy place” is following a morning and afternoon daily ritual. By not guarding daily rituals—my toleration is low energy) For a friend of ours—their “happy place” is to imagine a regular work-out routine with a work-out partner or trainer.

Imagine family & relationships - What to do some people tolerate in relationships? Manipulation. Being driven by guilt, other’s

expectations or always saying “yes” - but for the wrong reasons. (Marlene and I guard our hearts - when it comes to manipulation - we want our home to be our kids’, grandkids’ & friends favourite place to come to - This is our “happy

place”)

Joe asked us to “imagine our finances, our wisdom, growth & mental capacity and our spiritual life”. What would happen if we removed or delegated just 1 or 2 of our irritations and tolerations and spent more time in the “amazing” & “our happy place”

“Put the work into these changes - and the pay off will be for a life time…”

Larry

Encouraged or Discouraged?

Have you ever noticed that when you focus on what is not working in your life, that you feel discouraged?

When things don’t quite work out the way that I had expected them to or hoped that they would, my negative self talk can easily wreck my peace of mind. I have also found that when I focus on what is working in my life I get this feeling of encouragement.

As an example:: I (Larry) was told by my doctor this past Spring that I was pre-diabetic. “ARE YOU KIDDING? I’m 6 ‘1” and 155 lbs...how could that be? I thought diabetes was a weight thing for larger or inactive people?!”

“No, Larry,” my doctor went on to say, “you have been blessed with it geneti- cally. It’s in your DNA. Your Dad has it.” So ok, here we go. No pasta, no potatoes, no bread and certainly no dessert. Even minimal fruit. My inner self talk was screaming, “POOR ME!” and this continued at every dinner over the course of the next week or so. (You need to know that I LOVE bread, potatoes and spaghetti.) This was not good news to me...AT ALL.

I have a few people in my life that encouraged me to go for it and make the change. I have made the decision to eat clean and exercise more and over the past 6 months I can’t deny that I feel healthier and I’ve even gained some muscle and have lost an inch around my waist. Feeling fit and trim!

Here is the nugget. We all hit bumps on the road, don’t we? We can have blue days (or really bad hair days), but encouragement can help bring us out of these valleys and dips. We just don’t have to live there.

So...who are your ‘go to’ people who continuously speak encouragement into your life?Be an encourager and you will be encouraged right back. Try it out for yourself. The gift of encouragement. We all have it.

Gratitude

Posted on April 1, 2014 by SiebertTeam.com

Often in the pressure of the daily grind, we take many of life’s blessings for granted. We accept the teaching of our teachers, the ministry of our ministers, the leadership of our leaders, and the friendship of our friends. Each of these people has contributed to us being who we are, but we often accept their contributions without noticing.

The following story is a reminder of how powerful it is to acknowledge someone and the contribution they made in our life.

A university professor began reflecting on the people who’d had a positive impact on his life. In particular, he remembered a schoolteacher who had gone out of her way to instill in him a love of poetry. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in many years, but he located her address and sent her a letter of thanks. A short time later, he received this reply:

“My dear Willie,

I cannot tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and, like the last leaf of autumn, lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue-cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has in many years.”

The teacher’s note brought the professor to tears—and then he began searching for others who’d shaped his life, just to say thanks.

Our business coach encouraged us to be intentional on writing a similar letter or email, and follow up with a phone call. When I took up the challenge and wrote the letter, then talked to this person, it was an incredible blessing.

Who in your current or early life deserves a note, a phone call or an email of appreciation? It could well be a highlight of their day, month or year...and yours too! There is so much to give thanks for. Don’t forget those who have made you possible.